The service, A Celebration of the Diamond Jubilee of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth II, was held from 10:30am to 12:00pm on Sunday, 3 June 2012. Appropriately, the weather was quite English, reported Scott Ellis and Damien Murphy in The Sydney Morning Herald and other Fairfax outlets on 4 June 4, 2012.

They added that it did not appear to dampen the enthusiasm of the Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, and the NSW Premier, Barry O'Farrell, as they joined a large congregation to celebrate the reign of Queen Elizabeth II at a special diamond jubilee service at Sydney's St Andrew's Cathedral yesterday.

The Prime Minister was represented by the Hon. David Bradbury. The British Consul-General, Mr. Richard Morris, also attended.

The 800-capacity cathedral was full, and as the Herald said, the rain on the roof was a fine accompaniment to the St Andrew's male choir. The service, replete with magnificent music, began with the singing of ‘God Save the Queen’, followed by the Australian National Anthem, ‘Advance Australia Fair’.

...sermon...

The Very Rev. Phillip Jenson gave the sermon. He praised the Queen’s devotion to duty, personal commitment to service and sheer hard work.

He said that he was appalled that the ABC; the publicly funded national broadcaster “would broadcast a repeat of a second rate Hollywood movie, rather than the Queen’s Jubilee celebrations. I genuinely hope it was just a sheer oversight.”

He argued that God had made Saul not just King of the Jews, but a king under the law, that is a constitutional monarchy. He stressed the strong faith that guides The Queen.

Christians must respect the office of monarch as they must respect the office of prime mininister. How fortunate we are he said that we live in such a democratic country that the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is unlikely to be arrested or assassinated. Instead he holds a formal paid position .

“ I'm not sure that he wishes to hold it for long,” he added to the obvious amusement of the congregation.

[ The Hon Tony Abbott, the first Executive Director ACM, now Leader of HM Loyal Australian Opposition ]

...defending the constitution...

Mr.Milnes also reported that Professor David Flint AM, the National Convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy and Mr Jai Martinkovits, Executive Director were alsol guests at the service. Asked to explain what ACM was trying to do, Professor Flint AM explained the organisation’s mission and objectives: “To preserve, protect, to defend the constitution, the role of the crown in it and the Australian flag; actually if you look on our site you will find our mission. That’s our objective."

“Our objective is to convert you,” he joked.

Mr Martinkovits explained “We’re getting a lot of exposure on our site. We’re getting 12 million hits a year; 3.5 million page views.” He added that Facebook had over 35,00 fans or "likes", a large proportion of whom are young.

The Herald reported that Professor Flint had said the turnout showed support for the royal family was growing, adding he thought it stronger than in 1999 when the republic referendum went down in flames.

The Herald added the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, will light a beacon at Parliament House on Tuesday evening .

This is ACM's guide to television viewing - and radio listening -to the great events of the once-in-a-lifetime Diamond Jubilee. Scenes from these events will be a common feature in all the retrospectives of the twentieth and twenty first centuries. You can see them live.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has reigned for over more than half the life of this nation. Her service to the nation and the Commonwealth has been impeccable.It is appropriate that this year, the 60th year of Her Majesty's reign, we celebrate her Diamond Jubilee, a rare and special occasion in the life of the nation and the Commonwealth.

The celebration centres in the series of great events over the Diamond Jubilee weekend from Saturday, 2 June to Tuesday, 5 June 2012.

It is commendable that the national news channel Sky Television is to broadcasting most of the events over the Australian public affairs channel, A-PAC which is available through Foxtel, Austar and the internet.

We also delighted to see that Channel 9 will be broadcasting the Diamond Jubilee concert from Buckingham Palace. In addition its breakfast programme will be broadcast from London.

Channel 7 will be broadcasting its breakfast programme also from London.

We are especially delighted that in response to our petition, the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, has now agreed to broadcast most of the events over the generally accessible channel, ABC 1.

..Events...

The great events over the Diamond Jubilee weekend from Saturday 2 June to Tuesday 5 June, 2012 are:

• the Epsom Derby, • the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant,• the BBC concert at Buckingham Palace,• the lighting by the Queen of the Diamond Jubilee National Beacon• the Service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral, • the Carriage Procession to Buckingham Palace, and,• Her Majesty’s balcony appearance and the Flypast.

Hundreds of royal guardsmen marched past Buckingham Palace on Saturday as delighted crowds celebrated the first day of the Queen's diamond jubilee celebrations. A report on 2 June 2012 by the Daily Telegraph